At last, a true test

This was a Tri Nations test to put a smile on Rupert Murdoch's face. When he handed over his big pile of cash for the TV rights, this was what he was after - real test football. A test where the world's best players didn't have the slightest care about anything other than the 80 minutes they were on the paddock.

No one was thinking about the World Cup. There was venom in every exchange which got the claret flowing - Phil Waugh, Richie McCaw, Stirling Mortlock and Rocky Elsom - they all had some red spattered on their jerseys to prove this was for real.

But it wasn't just about graft and commitment. Both sides played at a speed that would have had every Northern Hemisphere side gasping for breath.

And we knew we were watching modern rugby when one lock started a move on the right wing fielding a high kick and the other scored a try on the left. Chris Jack's 63rd minute try eased the All Blacks into a state of comfort. It epitomised how much rugby has changed in the professional era.

Traditionalists might well wonder what Jack was doing seagulling on the wing. The answer was he was covering for Joe Rokocoko who was buried at the bottom of a ruck.

That is where rugby today has it over that of yesteryear. These All Blacks don't worry about the number on their back. Rokocoko had come off his wing, looking to use his bulked-up frame to smash some yards.

Time and time again it was one of his fellow backs who helped him recycle and that left one of the big units having to drop back to cover the space.

The role reversals suggest there is a deep understanding now of the All Black gameplan and perhaps suggests Graham Henry was wrong to worry that all this winning was making it hard for his side to learn more about the game. By implication, that almost suggested that losing tonight would have not been such a bad thing for the All Blacks.

Better to learn some lessons now rather than follow the traditional path of waiting until the World Cup semifinals.

But he needn't worry too much. Even if his side are finding their unbeaten run a distraction, they are still good enough to pull off the win despite their mental burden.

Maybe it helps that they were carrying one mental burden less last night, as they tidied up their work in the lineout. There were a few balls over the top that didn't really look like they were supposed to but it was a vastly improved performance.

Jason Eaton, in the side to prove he is ready for life at this level, took on his share of the workload and did indeed prove that he is a player the selectors were right to stick with.

The coaches wanted to start Eaton in this game because they felt it was going to be the stiffest challenge of the year - which this was; a win they will cherish.

Australia have got progressively better each time they have played the All Blacks this season. Their scrum is still a disaster zone. They can keep convincing themselves that Rodney Blake is the long-term answer. But every time they talk him up, it's hard not to think they are trying to convince themselves more than anyone else.

Whether their powder-puff scrum is that big a hindrance is hard to tell. They are a side that has lived at this level for some time now without any authority at the scrum. And they have managed that because they have some seriously gifted backs.

Lote Tuqiri was immense and the vision of Matt Giteau to thread through an extraordinary grubber for Tuqiri's second score was something special.

It was also something of which the All Black backs should take note. There was intricacy and clever movement from New Zealand's backs and dummy runners were back in vogue. But the movement was too lateral and we kept waiting for the strike runner to pounce and make sense of it all.

The waiting never really ended, though. It was a dance with no leading man. But this side, even in victory, has shown itself capable of continual improvement and that leading man will no doubt soon be found.